The present disclosure relates to a control apparatus and method for controlling an operation target device, which is onboard equipment such as a navigation device or a vehicle action control device that controls actions of a vehicle such as a transmission and a direction indicator, and relates to a steering wheel suitable to operate the operation target device.
Operation switches located on steering wheels, for operating onboard equipment such as an installed navigation device, are widely used in vehicles (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-106353 (Patent Literature 1)).
The operation switches located on the steering wheel improve operability because a driver is not required to stretch the arm to operate the onboard equipment.
As is described in Patent Literature 1, such operation switches are generally located not on a circular portion of a steering wheel, which is a grip portion that a driver grips with the hands, but on a connection area connecting the circular portion and a center portion in which an air bag is housed.
Therefore, the driver is required to remove or widely slide the hands from the circular portion gripping for operating the operation switches.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-348123 (Patent Literature 2) discloses that operation switches are located on a back surface or an inner side surface of a circular portion of a steering wheel.